end is near
by thunder mark
Summary: AU. what would you do if the virus spread? -Kotone, Kris, Silver, Hibiki, Team Rocket. Part one of two.


**a/n:** I watched "Zombieland" the other day. Chaos ensued. Also, my family plays Plants Versus Zombies on the computer like our lives depend on it, like a religious observance. It's ridiculous.

For the record, I prefer the name "Kotone" to "Lyra" for the female player character in HGSS. It has a better ring to it. This is all game-verse. Also, Kotone sure as hell ain't ten. Try more like seventeen.

This'll be told is two parts.

**characters:** Kotone, Proton, various Rocket grunts, Kris, Lyra's mother, Silver, Hibiki.

**pairings:** Kotone/Kris. Kotone/Silver.

**word count: **2969

**title:** end is near

**rating:** T. violence, blood and gore, sexual situations, and everything else you'd want in your zombie apocalypse movie.

**prompt:** zombies.

**disclaimer:** Although owning Pokémon would be totally awesome, I don't. So yeah.

* * *

><p><em><strong>afraid <strong>_

_**(**_**or**_** end is near: part one)**_

.

.

.

_If the virus spread, what would you do?_

_._

Kotone lived her whole life on two principles, and they were absolutely imperative to survival: One, to always be prepared—no matter how simple a day might've been planned; And two, to always don shorts—because they are _comfortable and easy to wear_. If she abided by these, she should have no trouble in this world.

So it was when she sprinted out of the Slowpoke Well at full-speed—stumbling and rolling her ankles, letting adrenaline fill her veins, screaming, panicking, dolled up in a formal dress, and scrambling from an onslaught of zombies hell-bent on gnawing her flesh between rotten, slack jaws and slurping up her brain for dessert—she could only blame herself.

.

_two days earlier._

_._

Kotone was watching her mother cook eggs. And it was funny, she had never liked eggs for as long as she could remember, and yet that particular day, she _craved_ the stuff.

"My daughter," her mom said, wielding a spatula. "_Champion_! Oh, Kotone! This would have made your father _ecstatic_."

Kotone pursed her lips as the air around them went still. The topic of Kotone's father was uncomfortable and unexplainable. He was a mystery and best kept a mystery, so the tiny, venomous tendrils of his memory didn't tarnish anything important. She watched her mother continuously ruin the peptide bonds of ruined fowl embryos.

But silence didn't last long—Kotone's mother was a "chatty Cathy" as deemed by the neighbors.

"I'm so glad you came back home at last. I know you've been busy with your new duties for months now, but I'm just so happy you've remembered your humble beginnings through all of this! All the neighbor children watched your final battle on the big screen over at the Elm's. You know he just bought that LCD for his lab work, right? It's fancy—he's getting HD and all that jazz… So anyway, they were all so supportive, yelling, cheering at the TV as though you could hear them. I wonder if you could?"

Kotone grinned. "That's great, Mom."

"Isn't it?"

She sliced butter onto a sizzling skillet. Kotone watched it skate around the pan carelessly.

"Hibiki was so jealous," Kotone's mother claimed. "You should have seen his face when you took down Lance so handily. And your redheaded friend was pretty upset, too. Hibiki got a text from him saying, 'I give up,' or something like that. Poor dear. What's his name again?"

"Silver," Kotone murmured fondly. She hadn't seen him since Victory Road, and it was weird; she used to see him almost every day. Were they still rivals? Kotone didn't really know. She had contacted him through her Gear a few days prior though, genuinely missing his witty remarks and sweet-and-sour disposition.

"Right. Silver. I knew it was a unique name. He's taking you to the Wish-Upon-a-Pokémon Fundraiser, isn't he?"

"Mhm."

"He's a lucky boy."

"_Mhm_."

"Kristal was the only one who seemed genuinely happy for you, though."

"She doesn't battle much," Kotone replied with a slight flush. "You know Elm took her in as a personal assistant a couple weeks ago. She's perfect for the job if you ask me."

"My point is," Kotone's mother said quickly, "that you've really made me proud, Kotone. Not that I wasn't already—but I think it should be illegal for a mother to be this proud of you." She laughed, a true sound that originated deep in her belly and rose upwards, gushing into the air.

"Thanks, Mom."

"No problem, sweetie. I hope you didn't mind me using some of your spare money to grocery shop, by the by. …How would you like your eggs?"

.

_present._

.

Kotone couldn't hear anything out of the ordinary from where she perched on the rotten tree stump. She was fairly confident that she was in the Ilex Forest, but she was also fairly confident in her extreme disorientation. Her chest heaved with labored breathing she fought to ease. Sounds she took for granted would give her away. Her human smell betrayed her.

Her dress was torn and bloodied from the dozens of cuts and bruises she acquired darting through trees and their jagged branches. One of her borrowed, strappy shoes broke off at the heel. Her feet were numb. She tossed the footwear aside. She wouldn't ever need it again so long as she had to keep running. They were Kris's, but she highly doubted the girl would mind much.

Kotone stifled a cough and pulled her knees to her chest, wanting to sob so dearly, but he face remained stubbornly dry. She panted desperately still, realizing that she was probably dehydrated. She ran at least three miles on pure adrenaline to arrive.

"_Why._"

She whispered to herself. She had seen so many familiar faces in that mad rush. Decay marred their faces, but it remained oh-so clear. She knew every departed soul, especially the ones who chained the vicious, rubicund letter "R" to their breasts.

"_I should have seen it coming_."

The ringleader…he was there to scorn, was he not? He dwelled in dark places, likely plucked the hysteria there. His skin was so pale; his gums were so blackened. Kotone reasoned that even the evil didn't deserve a death like this. Even if he wasn't really dead.

Then again, it wasn't as if Proton was still alive either.

The perv had wanted her more than ever before. But now was worse, truth be told. In place of crude sex jokes, here came shrieks and moans from a broken face and a depraved mind. Instead of petty, misogynistic insults, here came hands that would crush so mercilessly; fingers that were withered and wild in their appearance like unclean knives.

Kotone's figured melted into the smallest form it could. She didn't want to take up any space.

.

_five days ago._

.

"You're so adorable, Kotone."

Kris beamed at her from behind a diverse clothes rack. Kotone fought against a blush. Self-consciously, she adjusted her absurd hat.

"I'm not even kidding. Look at you. I'd kill for that tiny frame. And your skin is, like, _flawless_!"

When Kotone didn't reply, much too outwardly flustered for any of that, Kris returned to sifting through the store's inventory with half-interest. Really, Kris was convinced that Kotone could attend a charity event in her underwear and make anyone's best-dressed list.

Secretly, she wouldn't really _mind_ that, either.

"So…what are you looking for exactly?" Kris wondered, shoving an ugly brown garment across the rack.

"It has to be formal," Kotone said, glancing in the mirror and straightening a pigtail with comb-like fingers. "And flattering. If Karen makes fun of me for a wardrobe malfunction again, I might die."

Kris snorted. "As if. You'll be _gorgeous_."

And she wasn't just saying that.

She paged through the onslaught of party dresses like a book. Kotone watched from a distance. The Champion hated shopping, and she intended to stay as far out of Kris's way as she could. Her friend could sniff out a good bargain a mile away, or so she claimed.

"Look at this," Kris said suddenly, ripping out a black and silver number from the abyss. Kotone only had to look at it once to be sure the skinny straps and snug fit would suit her perfectly. In fact, she trusted Kris so much that she didn't even bother to try it on until she got home and had already thrown away the tags.

When they check out at the front register, Kris placed the bag in Kotone's capable hands and smiled. "Don't bother buying new shoes. I have the perfect pair in the back of my closet. Come over tomorrow?"

Kotone nodded happily.

.

_three weeks ago._

_._

"Hibiki's an idiot," Silver growled after another defeat to his childhood rival, Kotone. He stroked some of the dirt from his Feraligatr's dry skin and recalled the beast to its Pokéball.

She cocked an eyebrow.

"He's an _idiot_. I don't know how I could have lost to him," he said. He added, "Kid probably cheated," as an afterthought.

"I beat you," Kotone pointed out.

"_So_?"

"Does that make me an idiot and a cheater, too?"

"No."

"Oh."

Kotone felt Meganium brush against her side, and she rubbed her starter Pokémon's neck lovingly. Silver scowled, the light from the mouth of a cave shining across the bridge of his pale nose. He balled his hands into fists and kept them stiffly at his side like ancient soldiers awaiting orders.

But there was some sort of disconnect here.

"C'mon, Meganium," Kotone muttered to her Pokémon. She turned to Silver and started, "I've got to go on. I'll see you—"

"Good luck," the redhead managed through gritted teeth.

Kotone blinked. "Thank you…"

.

_present._

_._

She clutched Meganium's Pokeball in a shaking, sweating hand as the dreadful mixture of crunching leaves and popping joints reached her ears. She could hear their frantic yelps as they ripped through the forest unsteadily.

"_Kotone_," they called. Drivel was surely running down their ruined jaws. Bile rose to Kotone's heart. They knew she was here. Somewhere. It was only a matter of time before—

A twig snapped.

Kotone screamed, dropping to the ground in fright. The Pokeball rolled from her hand under a pile of putrefying plant matter.

"No, no—_shh_! Keep it down! _They'll hear you_!"

"Wha-?"

Kotone spit her ragged mess of hair from her mouth, brushed the tangled mess behind an ear. A stranger stood before her, clad in black from head to toe. The stranger appeared to be male; his light hair was cropped neatly under his raven cap, and she could see just how narrow his hips were from her position on the ground. He held out a hand. She accepted, noting that stranger or not, he was alive, and that automatically made him an ally.

"They're coming," he whispered.

"More?" Her eyes widened.

He smiled sadly. "They're friends of mine—_were _friends of mine. Before all of this, I mean. I'm Joshua."

"Kotone," she identified herself. "Do you hear that?"

The parade of swollen feet along unmarked paths of acorns and tree limbs grew closer still. It was a soft padding along a dark, soft floor, but it was such a clumsy motion that it could be easily heard.

"Yes," Joshua agreed. "We need to find somewhere else to hide for now."

_We?_

_._

_four days ago._

_._

Kotone wasn't quite sure how Kris had finagled her into watching a horror movie on a couch in her friend's basement, but there she was doing exactly that.

"You have to open your eyes, Kotone," Kris demanded, noticing the Champion ducked behind her back when the suspenseful music played.

"No."

"I said, you have to open your—"

"_No!_"

"Wimp."

"Shush!" Kotone barked, indignantly. "I told you this wouldn't be a good idea! I hate scary movies!"

"But they're so much fun!" Kris argued playfully, whipping the remote out from under the couch and pausing mid-scene. The screen displayed the protagonist spouting terror. "Seriously. You know it's not real, right?"

Kotone whimpered.

"Aw, you're freaking out, aren't you?"

She collapsed over Kris's lap, face first into a throw pillow. Kris noticed that Kotone was trembling.

"_That _bad?"

The Champion nodded.

"I guess we don't have to watch it then…" Kris heaved a dramatic sigh. "If a seventeen year old can't muster up the courage to sit through a little staged spookiness, there's just no hope for the rest of us, huh?"

Kotone perked up, glaring at her. "What? No! I just…think it's stupid!"

"Right."

"It_ is_!"

"It's fiction, Kotone. None of this horror shit's ever gonna happen."

The Champion settled back down, snuggling against Kris's arm.

"Now that that's settled."

Kris clicked the remote, and the movie continued. Her grin was wide, feeling Kotone's distressed hand find her fingers and squeezed them painfully tight.

.

_present._

.

"I think we've gotten far enough away from them," Joshua said.

The pair had settled into a hidden cave. From the look of things, it appeared to be an abandoned secret base. Moss and mold covered some of the furnishings, and the place carried a very damp smell, but it wasn't anything too unpleasant. And it was most definitely the better alternative to sleeping outside where the zombies could nab you.

Kotone's eyes swam with tears; she had fallen and scraped her knee on the forest floor as they escaped the tirade of the undead moments before. A rivulet of scarlet blood trickled down towards her ankle.

"You okay?" Joshua asked, concerned. He pulled at something behind him, and Kotone wasn't sure what it was until he yanked free a small, though well-stocked first aid kit.

"Not really…"

"Hold still."

He slathered some nasty, searing substance across her knee. She sucked in a sudden breath, biting down a sob stuck in her throat. He fished around through the pack until he found a butterfree Band-Aid to lay across the wound. He mopped up the remaining dried blood with a wet wipe.

"Thanks."

"No problem. My boss always made me carry around this thing. We got demerits if it wasn't equipped with everything. He valued proactivity above all else, said it was central to our success…" He stopped, as though just realizing he was rambling.

Kotone inquired, "Where did you work?"

"It's not really important," Joshua shrugged. He kept his voice casual, but Kotone detected a hint of mystery underneath.

"Tell me? It's not like it matters anymore now, right?"

"If you say so," he said, finally consenting. He lifted up his heavy sweatshirt enough to showcase the ruby red "R" on his chest.

"Team Rocket!" Kotone exclaimed, unable to contain herself. She shrunk into a corner. "Why—how—!"

"I'll explain, if you'll let me," he told her, throwing his hands up as if in surrender. "I'm not a bad guy. I just had no other alternative. Trainer school drop-out, poor family… Rocket was my only choice."

"But—"

He smiled sadly to Kotone's dismay. "We were all set up in Azalea Town to crash that little event you guys were holding in the well. Make-a-wish-whatever? Yeah. Executive Proton doesn't really like it when people go down there in organized groups. He gets all defensive." Joshua beamed. "You've seen him, obviously. You're the reason why he was so edgy all the time."

"Hm?"

"You defeated him there. He vowed to get stronger. He loved Slowpoketails. It only made sense that he'd lose himself down there. It took, like, five of us grunts to drag him out at the end of each day, the lunatic."

"I knew he was out of his mind, but I didn't realize he was, well, actually out of his mind."

"I'm no psychologist," Joshua replied curtly. "And personally, I liked Rocket better in the old days of Giovanni when grunts weren't treated as expendable resources, and we were mildly successful…"

Kotone didn't say anything as Joshua trailed off, so he kept going.

"Everyone started feeling sick a day or two ago. I don't know what happened. All of my roommates and friends were out of it. They looked practically green, but Proton thought nothing of it, despite being sick himself. He still had us hide out and all. Who would we be not to obey our orders? So we did what he told us. We camped out for a day. When I woke up this morning, I thought there was some sort of massacre during the night. Everyone looked so…so…"

"Mad?"

"Mad. Yeah. They were just skins and bones and jutting appendages. I started running, and they realized I wasn't like them. They aren't fast though," Joshua said, staring at Kotone. "It's easy to get away. There're just so many."

"I know. I saw them, too. I saw Proton. I probably saw all of your friends. I've never been so scared. I felt paralyzed." Kotone shuddered. "I forgot that I had Pokémon for a good twenty minutes, and it was this flight reaction. I couldn't think straight."

"Instinct?"

"Instinct."

She pulled at a messy pigtail. He dug through his bag for something. For some reason, she felt oddly warm.

.

_three-and-a-half days ago._

_._

The movie had been over for ages, and the house was quiet. Kotone and Kris were snuggled together under a thick coating of blankets, because despite how warm fall in Johto could be, Kris's basement was consistently frigid.

As a general rule, all stupid things seemed to occur to Kotone after 2 AM. For example, the time Hibiki got viciously drunk at the previous year's Christmas party and went streaking in circles around her, shouting "You hate me _now_, Silver?" Or the time she stayed over at Green's house and discovered her allergy to Eevee fur—and he had to drive her to the emergency room at three in the morning, groaning about it the entire time. It goes without saying he never let her stay over again.

This time it was equally stupid but not quite as obviously so.

Kotone rested on her back, watching the peel-and-stick, glow-in-the-dark plastic stars Kris had put up there when she first moved into the tiny townhouse. Kris nuzzled into her shoulder. Kotone's Meganium snoozed across the room with Kris's Misdreavus.

As is to be expected, a certain level of delirium is instilled in the brain post-midnight. Kris had found, in the course of her eighteen years tossed about the regions, as predictable darkness settled in for the night, she fell in love with everyone she'd ever met. And she had been feeling particularly lonely lately.

"Kotone?"

"Yeah, Kris?"

And Kris squirmed so that her face was level with Kotone's, and she kissed the Champion.

.

_end part one._

_._

.

to be continued **as the madness spreads**.


End file.
